


Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

by karrenia_rune



Category: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams, Space Cases (TV)
Genre: Community: rigielianculture, Gen, One Shot, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-22
Updated: 2014-05-22
Packaged: 2018-01-26 03:54:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1673750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karrenia_rune/pseuds/karrenia_rune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>no matter where you go, there you are, and oh, don't forget to bring your towel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Title: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow  
Fandoms: Space Cases w/Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy  
Author: karrenia  
Characters: Harlan Band, Radu, Catalina, Rosie, Bova  
Marvin, Trillian, Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect  
Rating: PG  
Prompt: This might work, and then again it might not Space Cases/Hitchhiker's Guide  
/> Disclaimer: Space Cases and the characters belong to Nickelodeon, Bill Mumy and Peter David, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and all the characters that appear here or are mentioned are the original creations of Douglas Adams or whoever owns his estate now; they are not mine. The title comes from the Lifehouse song by the same name. Written for the 2009 Space Cases Promptathon on the Live Journal community: rigeilianculture.

“Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” by Karrenia

Harlan felt the back of his head where he was almost a hundred percent certain a lump the size of an egg had formed. He groaned and rolled over onto his stomach. To his immediate left, Rosie and Catalina also were making noises of discomfort and confusion.

A slender but strong hand hoisted him to his feet and then let go. "What's going on!" he demanded. "Where are we?" Harlan glanced at Radu who had helped to his feet and nodded.

Radu glanced at him and shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I don't think that we're on the Christa anymore."

For his part Radu could hear things, things those who lacked his hypersensitive Andromedan hearing but he could have sworn he could detect the presence of at least three or maybe four more humanoids aboard the ship; beneath that an almost subsonic thrumming which Radu believed to be more than the sound of the ship's powerful engines at work.

Whether that was the case or not he could not be completely certain, but he knew that there was something definitely odd about the ship on which the crew of the Christa found themselves; he wanted to find out more. Once he did he wanted to talk it over with others as well.  
Bova and Rosie glanced around in mingled excitement and anxiety at their unfamiliar surroundings.

The corridors were smooth and utilitarian, the bulkheads, flooring, and ceiling composed of a bright reflective metal that appeared as if he had just been taken from a shipbuilding yard; so bright and shiny was it.

"The best thing we should do is to begin to explore this place. Maybe we find can find a communication array and contact the Christa," added Catalina.

"You think?" Harlan muttered but the rest of his sarcastic rejoinder was cut off by a good-sized mechanized humanoid who had apparently been in the midst of bemoaning its own troubles.

"Intruders. Halt." The interval between the first and the second word was unmistakable however Harlan and the others were far too preoccupied to register or wonder what it signified at the moment.  
Rosie giggled and nudged Bova who stood beside her. "Hey, do you think your people built him. He sounds just like you."

"Not funny," muttered Bova. Besides I'm sure we're in it for it, now."

"Who are you?" Bova demanded.

"My name is Marvin" replied the robot in gloomy tones.

Fortunately for Marvin, at that moment Trillian came into the hallway whistling and momentarily lost her stride when she was confronted by the sight of the perennially gloomy automaton surrounded by a group of young people in some kind of uniform in varying states of dishevelment. "What the heck is going on here?" she demanded.

"Nobody ever tells me anything," began Marvin and then trailed off, spinning around on its gimbaled feet and lurching away down another corridor. Trillian merely shook her head and asked again this time in a calmer tone of voice.

Harlan approached her even as he pulled at the corners of his uniform jacket and cleared his throat.

"Ma'am," he began and had to clear his throat once again when she began to laugh.

"What's wrong?" demanded Harlan.

Trillian stopped laughing and reached up to brush aside a strand of hair away from her eyes.

"Oh, relax. I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing because whenever anyone refers to me as 'Ma'am and I'm forced to look over my shoulder for my mother. I know, I know. It's foolish but I can't help it.

"Where are we?" Harlan whispered to Catalina in an undertone who stood beside Harlan.

Trillian shrugged, and replied, "Which reminds me, I don't think I'm familiar with those uniforms."

"Uh, Harlan Band, and we're Stardogs, or rather Stardogs in training,"

"Never heard of them, but then that's not all that surprising; I'm new to this whole exploring outer space thing," she replied. "My name is Trillian."

Just then a man dressed in rather bedraggled bathrobe that had obviously seen better days appeared the corner: his stature was about medium height, his shoulders good sized but appeared to be bowed beneath a great weight.

"Hello, Arthur. Did you sleep well?" asked Trillian.

The man addressed as Arthur shrugged and appeared to start like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming motor vehicle. "Not really, no. Who? What?"

"It would seem we have guests," replied Trillian.

"Oh, that's nice. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't we have to slow down in order to pick up new passengers?" asked Arthur. "I need a cup or two of coffee. I've been listening to Ford too long and my head is pounding."< I think so, but you know, if there's one thing I've learned since Zaphod picked me up," Trillian sighed. "It's that nothing in this galaxy can be said for certain. And that's even truer on the Heart of Gold."

"I'm for coffee," Arthur muttered and pattered down the corridor and past the small group of kids gathered in a clump, waving a friendly if somewhat tentative hand back in their general direction as passed into another adjacent corridor.

"That's s good idea. I think our uh, guests are too young for coffee, but I think we can muster something up for them. How about it, guys?" Trillian said.  
Harlan nodded and Catalina perked up. "Now we're getting somewhere'," she said.  
***  
After they had eaten a simple but satisfying meal and had drunk several thermoses of water; whatever had caused their disappearance from the Christa and their sudden reappearance on board this ship; Trillian and man named Ford Prefect conducted them on a tour of the ship. Catalina had any number of questions about the curiously shaped tablet computer pad that computer carried around with him, whose surface was inscribed with the words Don’t Panic in bright red letters.

The only other member of the crew, a man named Zaphod Bebblebrox they were given to understand had ensconced himself in his cabin for the duration of the voyage; whatever that meant.  
The Heart of Gold was quite an amazing piece of engineering and technology; small and bright-winged as a legendary firebird, but with an engine that Ford and Trillian referred to as a Singularity Drive.

“But what does it do?” Catalina asked both intrigued and frustrated by her inability to completely understand the detailed but still somehow vague theories offered by Ford.

“Everything, nothing,” Ford replied.

“This is going to take a while,” Harlan sighed.

Ford nodded emphatically, “Exactly! Exactly! I say, old bean, did anyone of you remember to bring your towel along?”

“No, why? Catalina asked.

“No." Ford sighed. “Ah, well, then I supposed we’ll have to this the old-fashioned way.”

“It’s a needle in a haystack life,” Trillian added. “But I don’t think I’d exchange it for anything. But I suspect that you’d want to get back to your own ship, sooner rather than later.”

Harlan nodded. “You’ve all been nice enough, but we do want to get home, too.”


End file.
